MONTE PLATA – La Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID) y Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) [Alianza para Ayuda a los Bateyes] lanzaron por quinto año consecutivo el Programa sobre Seguridad de Alimentos a través del cual se distribuirán 243.88 toneladas métricas de alimentos, valorados en RD$35 millones, entre 25,600 personas en República Dominicana y Haití. Este programa responde a los esfuerzos de ambas organizaciones para reducir la desnutrición y la falta de alimentos en la población más vulnerable de ambas naciones. El lanzamiento se realizó en el marco de la celebración del decimocuarto aniversario de BRA.

A través de este programa se entregarán 243.88 toneladas métricas de alimentos deshidratados, donados por la USAID. Estos alimentos beneficiarán a personas desplazadas y afectadas por el terremoto de Haití de enero de 2010. Entre los beneficiarios figuran mujeres embarazadas, niños, niñas y adultos afectados por la pobreza. También recibirán donaciones las personas afectadas por el cólera, el VIH/SIDA y la tuberculosis.

La donación de alimentos también llegará hasta los barrios marginados, en los bateyes, en las comunidades rurales de la zona fronteriza de la República Dominicana y en las comunidades rurales del sureste de Haití.

Este programa cuenta también con la participación de agencias estatales como el Consejo Presidencial contra el SIDA (COPRESIDA), la Dirección General de Control de las Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual y SIDA (DIGECITSS), el Ministerio de Salud Pública y el Ministerio de Salud de Haití, que al igual que otras organizaciones-no-gubernamentales como Servicio Social de Iglesias Dominicanas y las promotoras comunitarias de la salud, ayudarán con la distribución de estos alimentos.

Este programa sobre Seguridad de Alimentos complementará otros tres proyectos importantes de la BRA: el Programa Micronutrientes/desparasitación, que provee dosis diarias a 62,000 niños/as de los suplementos multivitamínicos y medicinas desparasitantes; el Programa de Prevención y Tratamiento del VIH/SIDA, que provee de alimentos a aquellas personas desnutridas que están recibiendo la terapia antirretroviral o tomando medicinas para combatir las enfermedades oportunistas; y el proyecto de Desarrollo Cooperativa/Agrícola, financiado por el Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (USDA) el cual suministra ayuda de alimento temporal a más de 7,000 socios/labradores y sus familias involucrando en la producción agrícola para comunidades rurales.

Antes del terremoto de enero de 2010, el Programa Mundial de Alimento de las Naciones Unidas ya había clasificado a Haití como un país con déficit alimenticio por contar con una población de bajo ingreso de aproximadamente 2.4 millones habitantes.

Actualmente en Haití el 24 por ciento de la población padece de desnutrición crónica. En tanto que en el caso de la República Dominicana, se estima que aproximadamente un 13 por ciento de los menores de cinco años que viven en la zona rural, y un 8 por ciento de los que viven en la zona urbana, sufren desnutrición crónica. El 27 por ciento de la población (o más de 2 millones de los 8.9 millones que constituyen la población total) padece condiciones de desnutrición.

NEW YORK. – The Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) celebrates on October 23rd, 2011 14th-year anniversary addressing the socio-economic and health needs for children and their families severely affected by extreme poverty, disease and hunger in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, through health, education, community development and disaster relief programs.

“We will also celebrate, proudly, BRA’s establishment of its first Food Security system that will help produce long-term food independence and economic self-sufficiency for more than 35,000 rural batey residents and farmers through USAID and USDA-funded food distribution and agricultural/cooperative development projects,” said Ulrick Gaillard, BRA’s founder and CEO. According to Gaillard, the organization’s newest food security milestone is credited to the continuing support and collaboration of the Dominican government.

With the financial and technical assistance of the USAID, through a Food for Peace/IFRP program, within a period of four years from 2007-2011, BRA distributed 656.48 metric tons (equivalence of 33million servings) of food rations at a value of $2.3 million to 986,800 impoverished and vulnerable people living with HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis, vulnerable/orphaned children, Cholera patients, earthquake-affected Internally Displaced People, pregnant women, the elderly who are without a pension or health coverage living in more than 17 provinces and 168 vulnerable and impoverished Dominican Republic Batey communities, rural and urban slums and Haiti’s border regions.

Meanwhile the organization partnered with USDA in 2009, through a two-year Food for Progress-funded program of $1.2 million, to create the first major Batey-run cooperative Food Security System, by producing crops and animal and developing community infrastructures for 35,000 beneficiaries within seven Batey communities in the province of Monte Plata, involving 7,700 cooperative members/farmers and community health promoters in skills training and technical assistance, veterinarian and health services, sharing of equipment and provision of credit.

BRA will present its 2011 “TRUE PARTNERS AWARDS” to USAID, USDA and Charlie Mariotti, Senator for the Monte Plata province, at the 14-year anniversary celebration festivities to be held on Friday, October 21st at 2:30pm at the organization’s Medical Center complex located inside Batey Cinco Casas in the province of Monte Plata.

More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the event, including government, diplomatic and media officials, foreign and local partners and local residents. Dominican President, Dr. Leonel Fernandez Reyna, US Ambassador to the DR, Raúl Yzaguirre and USAID Interim Director to the DR, James Watson have been invited to be our Guests of Honor.

BRA is member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)—collaboration between the private sector, non-governmental organizations and other global leaders committed to effectively confront the world’s most pressing issues and identifying groundbreaking solutions that reduce poverty, improve the environment, and increase access to health care and education.

NEW YORK. – The Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) became a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in April 2011 and is excited to present its Commitment to Action (CTA) at the CGI 2011 Annual Meeting to take place September 20-22 in New York City.

CGI is a collaboration between the private sector, non-governmental organizations and other global leaders to effectively confront the world’s most pressing issues. “BRA is delighted and proud to receive an invitation to this important meeting, which is recognition of its achievements in the area of social development in Haiti and the Dominican Republic,” said Ulrick Gaillard, BRA’s CEO.

“Our mission is to address the socio-economic and health needs of children and their families severely affected by extreme poverty, disease and hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean. We are honored to join the CGI, and the commitment we are presenting will further contribute to advancing that mission,” added Gaillard

Since 1997, BRA served more than 1 million vulnerable and impoverished people living inside Dominican’s sugarcane plantations rural communities known as “bateyes” and Haiti’s border regions through health and HIV/AIDS prevention and (ARV) treatment, food security and agricultural development, women economic empowerment and microcredit, preventive health education, water and sanitation and child’s care and deworming programs.

BRA announces the following Commitment to Action:

Workforce Development Training for 150 Haitian Women: The Batey Relief Association (BRA) commits to expanding its women’s empowerment activities to an additional 150 Haitian women in three communes of Haiti’s Southeast Department (Anse-a-Pitres, Thiotte and Grand Gozier). BRA will focus on three major areas of capacity development: trainings on leadership, gender-based violence and organizational strengthening; workforce development through small-scale agriculture, trainings on marketing and retail, and cooperative sales practices; and microcredit. Over a one-year period, the 150 women will engage in sustainable economic and agricultural development initiatives that will lead to improvements in household income, better employment opportunities and access to trade markets – thus improving the quality of their lives.

About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI Annual Meetings have brought together nearly 150 current and former heads of state, 18 Nobel Prize laureates, hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations, major philanthropists, directors of the most effective nongovernmental organizations, and prominent members of the media. These CGI members have made nearly 2,000 commitments, which have already improved the lives of 300 million people in more than 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will be valued in excess of $63 billion.

This year, CGI also convened CGI America, a meeting focused on developing ideas for driving economic growth in the United States. The CGI community also includes CGI U, which hosts an annual meeting for undergraduate and graduate students, and CGI Lead, which engages a select group of young CGI members for leadership development and collective commitment-making. For more information, visit www.clintonglobalinitiative.org.